Unit Plan 2 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Mapping Our Planet
Explore how latitude/longitude, rivers, monsoons, deserts, and tectonic forces shape human settlement, agriculture, trade, and hazards as students integrate maps, graphs, and texts to explain powerful geo–culture connections.
Focus: Use latitude/longitude to locate places and analyze how physical geography (rivers, monsoons, deserts, tectonics) influences culture (settlement, agriculture, trade, hazards).
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: Social Studies (Geography • Inquiry)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students sharpen coordinate skills and then connect where places are to why people live, work, worship, travel, and trade the way they do. Using thematic maps, climate graphs, and short texts, they explain how rivers, monsoons, deserts, and tectonic zones shape cultural patterns. The week culminates in a “Geo–Culture” one-pager linking coordinates → physical system → cultural effect.
Essential Questions
- How do latitude and longitude help us communicate precise location?
- In what ways do rivers, climates, deserts, and tectonic forces influence settlement, agriculture, and trade?
- How can multiple sources (maps, graphs, texts) be combined to make a strong geographic explanation?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Use/create maps with title, legend, scale, and latitude/longitude to locate places and estimate distance.
- Explain how physical systems (rivers, monsoons, deserts, tectonics) influence culture (settlement density, crops, trade routes, hazard preparedness).
- Gather and organize information from maps, climate graphs, and short texts to support a geographic claim.
Standards Alignment — 6th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 6.C3.Geo.2: Use/create maps with titles, legends, scale, lat/long, grid to analyze location, distance, direction.
- 6.C3.Geo.3: Explain how physical systems influence settlement, agriculture, trade, and hazards.
- 6.C3.Inq.2: Gather information from multiple source types (maps, charts, artifacts, texts, credible digital).
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can plot coordinates, identify hemispheres, and read scale to judge distance.
- I can connect a physical factor (e.g., monsoon) to a cultural effect (e.g., rice agriculture calendar).
- I can combine evidence from a map, a graph, and a text to explain a geographic pattern.